Gasol experiment keeps getting better
Veteran centre, Lowry finding a comfort level as the playoffs near
It is still a work in progress, there are tiny kinks to be worked about, but you can see it coming, And it’s going to stand the Raptors in very good stead when the NBA playoffs arrive and experience counts for so very much.
A veteran point guard and a very big man, each with basketball IQs near the top of the charts, are figuring each other out. And watching Marc Gasol and Kyle Lowry develop some symbiotic existence just five games into their Toronto coupling is exactly what coach Nick Nurse imagined when he was presented with the 11-year veteran centre at the trade deadline.
The no-look passes from Gasol to Lowry as Lowry cuts along the baseline. The well-executed pick-and-roll plays in the paint that result in sweet pocket passes and Gasol layups. The give-and-go action that creates open shots.
“It’s easy when you’ve got a guy like him,” Lowry said after Toronto dropped a 113-98 decision to the Orlando Magic on Sunday. “You set the pick-androll, you go and make some plays. He can make jump shots. He can make the right pass. Me and him just continue to get better. We’ll figure it out as we go … It’s more on defence. We’ve got to be on the same page. Offensively, it’s easy. On defence, it’s where we have to be on the same page.”
It’s the beauty of the two-man game the Raptors are seeing develop that offers the most promise for the coming playoffs.
“When we traded for Marc, one of the biggest things I said is it should relieve some pressure and let us get downhill a little more,” Nurse said before the game. “We haven’t had much of that. It’s a big addition to an offence.”
Gasol, 34, has made his reputation as being one of the best centres in the NBA over the last five years on his ability to be a multi-faceted facilitator and offensive general. He is entirely unselfish and aware of what he needs to do to help his team.
“Toronto was the best possible place for him and I think he’s excited,” Gasol’s brother, Pau, said here Friday when he arrived with the San Antonio Spurs. “Ready to do whatever it takes and have that chance to get that championship. Ultimately that’s what every NBA player wants … every player that is a winner and cares about the game and what it means to win a title.
“It’s a tough quest but, at the same time, it’s worth the fight, it’s worth the effort, worth the sacrifice and Marc is at that perfect point, I’m sure, where he’ll do whatever it takes.
“Whether it’s coming off the bench and helping that unit and helping this team be better overall, he’ll do that. If it’s starting, whatever the coaching staff decides or asks of him, he’ll try to fulfil that to the best of his abilities.”
Nurse is likely to flip-flop Gasol and Serge Ibaka in the starting centre’s role the rest of the season, even though Ibaka has been outstanding all season and has done nothing to lose his job.
But it’s up to Gasol to become familiar with the intricacies of his teammates, regardless of whether he starts the game or not. Toronto’s second unit needs his creative abilities as long as Fred VanVleet is out, and the second group can be too small if the seven-foot-one veteran is not on the floor with it.
“At the end of the day, it’s about the team and getting used to one another as a team,” Gasol said. “It’s not about how I feel only, it’s about how we feel as a team and the things that we need to do to become a really good team.”